New Zealand Racing, 2014-15
 

New thread!

The winners of the 2000 Guineas, 1000 Guineas, Derby and Oaks turned three today. Happy birthday to them, whoever they are, and all the other horses in NZ!

It's the G3 Winter Cup at Riccarton tomorrow, and the Foxbridge Plate is only two weeks away - Veyron, Recite and Spellbinder, among others, are aiming for that. :)

Yea the one and only thread I absolutely cannot wait for every year!!!

Happy birthday, good horsies.

Good luck to I Am Sam in the Winter Cup. I don't think he'll win (2nd or 3rd?) but whatever! :)

No luck for Sam today - too much weight on his back, I think.

Karla did it again! First repeat winner since 1990, and only the third mare in the history of the race to win it twice.

Whew, busy day of work today. But I enjoyed it, and it's only going to get better as the racing gets more exciting!

Welcome to the world, future champion!

http://www.trelawneystud.co.nz/News/...t.aspx?c=20621

Geez... are you there, ed? Wish I were!

Aidan Rodley ‏@Agent200 · 5m
Gallops in order: Pus$y O'Reilly & Viadana, Fix & Xanadu, Whosyourmaster, then Pure Champion.


9:51 PM - 7 Aug 2014 ·

Aidan Rodley ‏@Agent200 · 6m
Exhibition gallops from Matamata today about to play on @Trackside 1, channel 62.

I didn't get to go to those, no! My boss lives near the Matamata track, so he went along to see them.

But I'll definitely be at the Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa on Saturday! That's an amazing field. Veyron, Viadana, I Do, Xanadu, Pure Champion, Costume, Soriano, Postmans Daughter, Spellbinder...

That's the most amazing field!!!!! Thrilled to see Veyron back. :{>:

Have a fantastic time and oh.. the awards are tonight?

Have a great time at both. Can't wait to see who wins Horse of the Year!

I went back to look at last seasons thread and you were pretty dead on about who would win!

List of winners for anyone interested...

http://www.nzracing.co.nz/OnHorseFil...%20Winners.pdf

Hope it was fabulous!

Hey please give updates on Archie and on Pinzaara when you can. I know you're busy but dying to know how the kids are doing.

It was great, and congratulations to all the winners. They all really deserved it. I thought the 2yo one would be one of the closest races, so I was a bit surprised that Vespa won it unanimously!

I don't think there's much to report at the moment with Pinzaara or Archie. Pinzaara is back at the stable but not doing serious workouts yet, and Archie is doing some walking on an underwater treadmill. But hopefully it won't be too long until they're in action!

Thanks for the update. :)

Have a great time on Saturday. Such an amazing field!

It should be brilliant. I can't wait.

Whoa, the trials down at Taupo on Wednesday have a bit of quality in them!
http://www.theinformant.co.nz/racing...trial-at-Taupo

But I think I'll be stuck in the office working on the newspaper that day. :(

Whoa that is some list!

What a nice win...that must have been a very emotional scene.

Congrats to the beautiful I Do and to her people.

Need to watch the replay again. Fantastic seeing so many great horses in one field and oh... Veyron. I had secretly wondered if we'd ever really see him on the track again so I am just really happy. :)

Amazing performance. She's been a really good horse - that was her 14th win - but this was by far the best field she's faced, and she was way too good for them. Best performance of her career.

And yeah, emotional scenes afterwards. I'm so glad they won.

Some nice runs in behind - Ms O'Reilly was particularly good, and so were Brave Centaur and Soriano.

I'm not disappointed in Veyron, Viadana or Costume. There was a bit of a track bias and it was hard to win from where they were. Plus the race was a bit too short for all of them. They'll do better next time.

I'd recommend looking at races eight and nine as well. Spectacular performances by some possible rising stars.

Great day of racing! And it's only going to get better from here. :)

I laughed when I saw your post... okay yes I guess we shall just have to call her Ms. O'Reilly from here on out and leave it at that! :D

Not disappointed either. It's early yet.

Lucky you getting to go to the awards the other night and these races and yes I just watched the 8th...

Wow!

Gotta say I am impressed that Blue Streak managed to hang on for 2nd cause I don't want to forget that but whoa... El Pescado? Are you kidding me? Awfully nice win and a very good ride from Mr. Cameron. Too bad they don't use Trakus cause that would be interesting to look at with how wide he had to go and all.

I think you're right... a star is born.

Was going to watch the finale a little later but just did and boy am I glad as Pondarosa Miss is now a name I will burn into my brain. That was fantastic! :tro:

Rising stars indeed. :)

And I was so happy to write this story. :)
http://www.theinformant.co.nz/racing...o-not-for-sale

Well done!

I love reading stuff on the Informant and realizing it's something you've written. :tro:

Thanks! It's a dream come true. :)

I'm nervous/excited about having a vote in the awards for this season! I've decided to make an Excel spreadsheet for each category and give points after stakes races. That should help me keep track of everyone!

The races this Saturday aren't great, but there have been some awesome performances at Taupo so far today. Check out Bonniegirl in particular, but I also loved all of the first three home in race two.

And the next race there is for three-year-old fillies - four of them are last-start winners, and three of them are undefeated! Really excited about this one.

Darci's Dream? Wasn't expecting that. But she was impressive! Looks like she's improved a lot since her 2yo year.

Have only watched two of the races so far and - of course - not in order. :D.

Far Fetched (!!!) That was wonderful to see and wow... Golan Express was flying at the end!

The other one was - oh geez I have blanked out on his name.... race 2 with the Council horse and the nice finish (and you're right... all three)!

Good luck and safe travles to Silent Achiever, by the way (just watched the video on the nzracing site). :)

Yeah, Far Fetched was brilliant. So good to see her come back so well.

Ended up being a busy day yesterday! My boss asked me to watch the Taupo races and just write articles for any races that were good enough to warrant it - I wrote a lot of articles!

I know, I read your work all the time!!! :D

You know ed, when you're the President and CEO of NZ Racing maybe you could implement a database for all the retired runners so that people like me, when trying to find certain horses (is I'mabayboy in Malaysia now or was that someone else I had searched for? Can't remember!), have an easier time of it!

I mean hooray for the Macau Jockey Club listing the barrier trials in along with the races but I nearly had a heart attack thinking he (Upsala!) had won one! Damn!

http://www.mjc.mo/race_en/info/lastr...n=SG&race_no=6

Oh well. He has since run one time (and beat one other horse home).

http://www.turfclub.com.sg/Racing/Pa...HeaderID=41468

Wish they would send him back home now. :confused:

That's a really good point! It's hard to keep up with all those horses. I'll do my best if I ever get any influence with that sort of thing!

Seven days until the first G1 of the season. Can't wait! My boss will be going to Hastings for that. I've got the day off - I'll either sit in front of the TV all day watching it, or maybe go up to Ruakaka and have a look at Puccini in his first race back. Haven't decided yet.

The Hastings fields are AMAZING!

G1 Makfi:


Silent Achiever is likely to scratch and run in Melbourne instead, but still a remarkable line up!

The 3yo race is fantastic as well. Amun Ra was SO impressive in his last race as a 2yo, and I can't wait to see what he does here.

Taken The Liberty is undefeated and did it well in his only race, and Turn Me Loose was also really good in winning his last start. Then there's the stakes-placed Don't Change and also Longchamp, who wasn't far away in the Karaka Million... :zz:

Pondarosa Miss is in race three! Against Kentucky Son who was 4th in the Derby, and also a really talented horse called Wolfwhistle.

Chambord v Ryan Mark in race seven!

Are you kidding??? This looks like it's a list of someones favorite horses haha!

Cannot WAIT. This is one of the best fields ever!

Ooh, change of plans. My boss has suggested we both go to Hastings! It will mean leaving home at 5:30am and not getting back until about 11pm, but totally worth it. I can't wait.

How awesome and yeah I would imagine it's worth having to miss Puccini (... and Sangster, Miss Pelear and Antonio!). Should be a fantastic day! Can't wait to hear about it.

Good luck to Vey... oh no if I start that with the fields at Hastings I'll be here all night. Just have a blast!!!

At Hastings now! The press room isn't the best, but the track is looking magnificent and the sun is shining. Can't wait for G1 racing.

First race is about 40 min away!

How exciting and oh wow ed I didn't realize Amun Ra was in the race with Stratocaster!!! You probably said it and I forgot.

Please wave to Blizzard (pretty boy! :D) and Pink Diamond and Sam and Brotha and oh God every horse in the Makfi!!!!!!

Especially Veyron :{>: though. And Shuka. And Xanadu, Zennista, Nashville (might win, huh?), Soriano (might win), I Do (might win), Survived, Ms. O'Reilly, Jesus how does anyone cap this race? This is just the best field... wish I were there!

Have a wonderful time. Hope everyone comes home safe and am totally looking forward to reading your recap!

Stratocaster! That was an incredible performance. Wow. Trying to find the words to do justice to it in an article now. That's some horse.

Oh yea! Happy to hear he won impressively and also that Amun Ra hit the board. Can't wait to catch the replay later! :)

edit Just saw something on Twitter about Ponderosa Miss. How awful. :(

Yeah, that was so sad. :( Best wishes to her for a speedy recovery. That really cast a bit of a shadow over the whole day.

But what a wonderful performance from I Do, yet again. Just a fantastic mare.

So happy for her connections and cannot wait to see all the replays.

Blizzard! Haha I was surprised!

If I ever own a horse I want Opie to ride! What a beautiful win by I Do and wow, Ms. O'Reilly! Very nice!

I just can't watch the race with Ponderosa Miss (any updates?) but can I ask you something? Was it Marco Chui's fault? I mean that is a serious question but in your heart of hearts...

I remember him well from his many episodes in HK. :zz:

Finally all caught up and I saved Antonio Lombardo for last. What a nice win that was. I wanted Puccini, of course, but nice to watch.

Oh and lest I forget the replay of that last barrier trial... whoa that was cool! Too bad Recite didn't look as good for her race.

Encouraging news about Pondarosa Miss: http://www.theinformant.co.nz/racing...Pondarosa-Miss

I do believe it was Marco Chui's fault. Obviously it was an accident, but he didn't check before moving his horse outwards. They cut right in front of Pondarosa Miss, and she had nowhere to go.

Marco Chui was given a one-month suspension after the race. Some of the other people in the press room said they thought he was lucky it wasn't longer.

Yeah from what I've heard he WAS lucky that he was only given a month. Ugh I just cannot watch the race.

Thanks for the update!!!